With rumours still flying left and right as we close in to Apple’s expected Tablet announcement next Wednesday, perhaps the most sought-after missing piece is still its name. Could it be iGuide, or iSlate?

Maybe — but it looks like iPad is definitely a strong contender as well, according to the Mac News Network. Apple has filed for a trademark on that name in Canada, Europe, and Hong Kong, but in the U.S. that trademark is already tied up by Fujitsu. The Japanese corporation has an existing product using that name: a handheld device used by workers in retail.

Yet while Fujitsu first filed for the trademark in 2003, at some point they stopped responding to the US Patent and Trademark Office’s requests for additional information. The USPTO never awarded the official trademark and ended up declaring the name “abandoned” in April 2009.

Although Fujitsu began pursuing the iPad trademark again last June, Apple has reportedly filed at least three requests to extend the deadline for presenting opposition to Fujitsu’s claim. The company now has until February 28 to submit evidence, potentially positioning itself as the rightful owner of the iPad trademark. Launching an actual product under the iPad name before that date may strengthen Apple’s legal claim to the mark, leading to logical speculation that iPad is the chosen forerunner for the tablet’s name.

What’s your favorite name for the still-mythical Apple Tablet? Place your bets now, people!

[img credit: TGR]

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, fujitsu, gadgets, iguide, ipad, iSlate, trademarks

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If “Pants on the Ground” remixes and burning banana suits aren’t your thing, don’t fret, there’s a whole new reason to use YouTube: movie rentals.

The Google-owned video site debuted online movie rentals today on a very limited basis, allowing users to rent five different flicks from the Sundance Film Festival using their Google Checkout accounts. The company says “a small collection of rental videos from other U.S. partners across different industries, including health and education, will be made available in the weeks ahead.”

Last year, it was reported that YouTube was in talks with movie studios to offer rentals of major motion pictures, creating what would be dubbed an instant Netflix killer. This is far from that, but represents what could become a massively important part of YouTube’s future. Don’t forget — the site is also continuing to push ahead with HD and making its content big screen-friendly.

Slowly, but surely, we expect YouTube to continue in this direction, and other moves like introducing live sports and streaming full-length films offer just a hint of what’s to come from the video site over the next few years. For more on that, see: YouTube Is the Top Social Media Innovation of the Decade.

Tags: trending, video, youtube

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Quix

Quick Pitch: Quix is an extensible bookmarklet, allowing access to all your bookmarklets, across all browsers, while maintaining them in one spot.

Genius Idea: Think of Quix as a command-line of sorts for your web browser. The bookmarklet makes it possible to quickly and easily do stuff like search Google, shorten links, and send stuff to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Posterous all from any browser — including Mobile Safari.

Check out this screencast that gives a two-minute overview of Quix:

Inspired in part by Shaun Inman’s Shortwave, Quix is a utility made for people trying to increase their web productivity. Check out the list of help commands to see all the stuff Quix can do. Plus, you can add your own functionality, which makes this really killer for web developers.

What we like about Quix is that it is cross-browser. You can use it in Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Chrome, on a Mac or PC. For users who love browser plugins but loathe the memory usage and performance slowdowns that can come with them, Quix might just be a godsend. As a Mac user, I love the integration with some of my favorite Mac apps.

If you’ve ever doubted the power for Javascript, play with Quix. It’s free and it’s web-geek nirvana!

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: bookmarklets, javascript, quix, software

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Thwapr, a mobile-to-mobile video-sharing program that launches its public beta today, is focused on creating an easy-to-use cross-platform solution for sharing photos and videos with other people, regardless of what type of phone they use.

The Problem With Current Options

The problem with current mobile-to-mobile video- or photo-sharing options is that they don’t work reliably with different platforms. Sure, I can send an MMS message to practically anyone, but that photo is often tied directly to my phone. If I switch devices or lose my phone, my photos are gone too.

The other big problem is that although services like TwitPic exist, they focus mostly on smartphones. My mom still has an old Motorola Razr. She can actually record and view video, but obviously she can’t get a TwitPic-compatible application, which makes it hard for us to share photos.

Even among smartphones, the different video standards can create a problem for users. Sure, YouTube is supported on more and more mobile devices, but it’s not universal.

Thwapr’s Solution

Thwapr is a free service that addresses these issues. Utilizing SMS messaging and e-mail, you can send video and photos to almost anyone with a cell phone. Thwapr supports more than 170 different devices on carriers in the U.S. and Canada (international countries are coming soon).

Here’s how it works: A friend can send you a picture or a video using Thwapr. You get notified by an SMS message that gives you a link. That link will take you to a site that has been tested across mobile browsers and then it will display the photo or encode the video (on the fly) in a format optimized for your mobile device.

You can then respond to that message, or “thwap” by either entering a comment or sending your own photo or video back to the person. You can upload using e-mail, and on devices that lack e-mail support, MMS. I did a number of real-time demos with Thwapr’s CTO yesterday and I was impressed with the speed with which I could both send and receive video or photos.

Simplicity and Cross-platform Is Key

The key to Thwapr is that it works with so many different platforms. You can use it on a BlackBerry, an iPhone, an Android device, and the new Nokia N900 and Palm devices (from the old Palm OS and webOS). You’re notified that your upload is complete via SMS or e-mail (you can choose how you want to be notified) and you can add users to your friends list to easily send stuff their way.

Future Plans

Thwapr is opening up its public beta today, but the company already has some big plans. Not only is Thwapr deep in development on an iPhone app, but it is also looking at ways that people can respond directly to thwaps by placing orders. Think about the possibilities of marrying something like a Thwapr video of what’s going on with Haiti with the ability to donate by responding to a Thwap.

Thwapr is also looking at geo-location so that advertisers can do sponsored thwaps to local users, which opens up all kind of cool possibilities. A movie theater could send thwaps to subscribed users with a new movie trailer and you could pre-order tickets in response.

Sharing video via mobile devices is only going to get bigger, but cross-compatibility is key. This is why Thwapr is so exciting.

Tags: mobile video, thwapr

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The White House just released its own iPhone app [iTunes link] on the Apple App Store. It serves up news, videos, photos and blog posts, but most notably it will stream live video events, including the President’s upcoming State of the Union address.

The app is free, and we’re impressed by how elegant and simple the design is. There’s nothing at all revolutionary here, but organizations both public and private often release poorly designed iPhone apps. If you’re a U.S. citizen, you probably won’t feel that your tax dollars were wasted developing this thing, assuming you think an iPhone app is worth the effort and investment to begin with.

If the intention is to keep citizens engaged, the app will do as good a job as you can expect. It mostly features content from the already impressive whitehouse.gov: all the blog posts, newsroom items, photos and videos of everything from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’s press briefings to Obama’s appearances and government PSAs.

The live video feature isn’t just reserved for major events. At present, the listed current and upcoming streams include President Obama’s January 22nd town hall meeting in Ohio, his National Mentoring Month speech, a meeting between the First Lady and White House tour visitors, a Gibbs press briefing, an education Q&A with Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes, and, of course, the State of the Union address on the 27th.

You could previously watch some events on sites like Ustream. You still can, we’re sure, but this administration has put some effort into engaging users of social media and technology. Obama just posted his first tweet, actually.

The White House blog says that a mobile version of the whitehouse.gov website will soon launch at m.whitehouse.gov for devices other than iPhones. There’s no word yet on native Android or BlackBerry apps.

Tags: apple app store, iphone, live video, obama, Political, White House

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Spiros Nikolakopoulos, Vice President of Mobile Devices in charge of Asian and international retail distribution, told Damian Koh, "There will be between 20 and 30 smartphones globally and, at this moment, all of them will run Android."

Of course, that doesn’t mean that every single one will be on display in malls around the U.S.  Nikolakopoulos continued, "[N]ot all will be available everywhere as it depends on the company’s partnership with the various telco operators in each country."  So we may wind up with some near-identical phones that are just for sale in different regions.

Still, it sounds like Motorola’s going to put out about all the Android phones it can.  And since the company’s been interested in Android since at least September of 2008, it’s a good sign for both the manufacturer and Google that the relationship remains so strong.

Look for Android’s market share to increase quite a bit over the next 12 months as a result.

Related Articles:

> Google Delays Launch Of Android Phones In China

> Google Unveils Nexus One "Super Phone"

> AdMob Determines Android Is Growing Faster Than Ever

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The study found broadband Internet users are at east 50 percent less likely to give up on job searches because of discouragement than those who do not use the Internet. Dial-up Internet users are about one – third less likely to drop out of the labor force.

"By connecting Americans to jobs and information about job opportunities, Internet usage feeds hope and encourages frustrated workers to keep on looking even when job prospects are dim," according to Phoenix Center President Lawrence J. Spiwak. "These findings suggest that broadband connectivity can contribute to economic recovery."

"Our study also shows the enormous potential benefit of community broadband centers for those who are not connected at home," Spiwak adds. "While broadband use at home delivers significant benefits, shared facilities can be a valuable solution to connectivity gaps in unserved and underserved communities."

The Phoenix Center says the new study provides insights to policymakers at a time when unemployment is  high, with government estimates suggesting the unemployment rate, when broadly defined, now exceeds 17%. In fact, large numbers of Americans have given up looking for jobs because they think none are available.

The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is responsible for the government’s monthly data on employment and unemployment, estimates that adding "discouraged workers," as defined by the Bureau, who had quit looking for work as of December 2009, would boost the current U.S. jobless rate above the frequently reported 10 percent level.

Related Articles:

> Open Internet Heavily Promoted at CES

> Internet’s Possible Future in the US Gets Ready to Be Decided

> FCC’s Net Neutrality Site Gets a Blog

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There are still a lot of details to be worked out from the sound of it, and since the change won’t go into effect for a year, maybe they will have enough time to get it right. However, publishers have been trying to get this right for years already, and are still struggling to find that true answer. You have to wonder, what makes them think they can get the details ironed out by then?

It would be one thing to announce it and start doing it. Other publications do this, but a year is an incredibly long time in the online world. There are so many things that could happen and questions that may still remain unanswered in the online news industry. News Corp. for example, has set off a firestorm over whether or not people should be able to freely link to free content on the web. There are just so many things that come into play that it seems rather strange to assume everything will fall into place a year from now. Who knows what condition the industry will be in by then? Publications that are using paid models right now may decide it’s not working and switch to a different plan. To reiterate, a year is a long time, particularly in an industry with so many question marks.

"This announcement allows us to begin the thought process that’s going to answer so many of the questions that we all care about," Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the company chairman and publisher of the newspaper is quoted as saying. "We can’t get this halfway right or three-quarters of the way right. We have to get this really, really right."

I would say the thought process has been in motion for some time, and it’s hard to imagine setting a deadline for the discussion to wrap up in such a timeframe. Does setting such a deadline suggest a hint of desperation? The Times says that any changes will be closely watched by other publishers of online content, and there is no doubt that this will indeed be the case.

The publication refers to Nielsen Online and analysts’ data indicating that NYTimes.com is "by far" the most popular newspaper site in the country with over 17 million readers a month in the U.S. alone.

Do you read the New York Times? Would you pay for frequent access or get your news from other sources? Share your thoughts.

Related Articles:

> New York Time’s Could Announce Paid Model This Week

> Do You Have the "Right" to Link?

> Is This the Answer for Online News Revenue?

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In 2008, an estimated 6,000 people were killed and 500,000 were injured due to cell-phone related car accidents. “Distracted driving is an epidemic and it seems to be getting worse every year,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood. So, when Ford Motors decided to add Twitter to the arsenal of distracted driving devices, questions of safety where a salient concern.

2010’s Consumer Electronics Show assembled industry and government experts to answer questions and raise issues surrounding Ford’s keynote announcement that it would be launching social media-ready cars in 2010. The first and most obvious question participants had was:

Is using social media while driving safe?

“No,” says Peter Appel, the Obama Administration’s point man on transportation research. Appel’s curt, absolutist language is indicative of just how seriously the government is taking distracted driving. Given the Administration’s sobering stance, the next logical question is:

Is it Possible to Stop Distracting Technologies?

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Commercial products are already in the pipeline, which can disable cell phones while driving. For instance, Taser, the makers of non-lethal electrocution law-enforcement weapons, has developed an almost disturbingly powerful app that lets parents control their teen’s cell phones. Among its many features is the ability to disable calling and texting within the proximity of the car.

While it may not be constitutionally viable for the government to restrict certain behaviors (Appel tells Mashable that the Obama Administration has no interest in regulating what people can and can’t do while driving), Ford Motors has chosen to disable some tasks while the car is in motion. For instance, the central on-board dash disables complex tasks, such as watching music videos, until the car is parked. Ford tells Mashable that the policy to make paternalistic decisions for drivers was done independent of the government, leaving hope that the private sector can, to some degree, self-regulate safety.

Wheel Controls and Voice Activation

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The unwavering mantra of Ford’s CES keynote address was “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road.” Ford contends that steering wheel controls and voice commands facilitate more efficient task completion than fumbling with a cell phone.

Below is a video from Ford’s keynote comparing the completion time of steering wheel control vs. a handheld MP3 player. The first part of the video shows a music change task with an MP3 player, the second part is done with Sync technology. Notice the lane position metric in the bottom left-hand portion of the screen.

Here’s a comparison chart (courtesy of Ford) showing the measured eyes off the road time difference for other tasks.

Ford contends that Sync can substantially reduce task completion time and thus minimize distracted driving.

Will Drivers Actually Use a Steering Wheel to Tweet?

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Ford believes that voice and steering wheel-controlled social applications could bring social media to the driver’s seat in a safe and effective way. Below is a video of the voice-activated Twitter Sync app in action I shot while at CES.

It’s too early to tell if car manufactures can design a sleek enough user interface to compete with smart phones. Further, safety measures that prohibit people from actually reading tweets while driving may reduce usefulness of these applications to the point that they are no longer worth using on the road. The type of social media user obsessive enough to listen to tweets while driving may become too frustrated by the slowness of voice-to-text. After all, how many tweets can the average Twitter user scan through in the time it takes to voice one tweet?

The Ford representative in the video was more optimistic about usefulness of Ford’s technology for social applications like Pandora, a popular, customizable Internet radio application. Pandora has relatively few options (genre selection, “thumbs up” preference tagging), all of which can be seamlessly done with existing wheel controls and voice commands without negatively impacting the user experience.

Conclusion

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Ultimately, distracted driving is inevitable, and both governments and the automobile industry must face it head on. Ford’s new technology, which at least appears to make social media and multimedia safer while driving, is a step in the right direction, but it will take more than technology to beget safe drivers. If it is possible, it will likely require a combination of legislation, social awareness, and technological innovation to create a safe marriage between social media and driving.

More social media resources from Mashable:

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- 3 Ways Educators Are Embracing Social Technology
– 7 Lessons for Better Networking with Social Media
– Zen and the Art of Twitter: 4 Tips for Productive Tweeting
– How Social Media Has Changed Us
– 5 Tips for Building Lasting Online Friendships
– 4 Steps for Effective Online Networking

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, jhorrocks, bakalusha

Tags: autos, driving, ford, safety, social media, tech, texting, twitter

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It’s that time again: We’re primed for another Saturday Night Live sketch to get its wings and become a feature-length film. Today, the official trailer for MacGruber hit the Interwebs.

The “MacGruber” sketch, starring Will Forte, became part the the SNL repertoire in 2007. The spot, which is a parody of the popular crime show MacGyver, frequently features MacGruber attempting to defuse a bomb, becoming distracted and therefore failing at the task at hand. The film is no different in terms of plot: A villain named Dieter Von Cunth (played by Val Kilmer) is menacing the U.S. with a purloined Russian warhead, and it’s up to Macgruber to save the day.

We’ll have to wait until April 23, when the film opens, to see whether or not the flick is a literal bomb. It’s hard to spin a two-minute spot into a full-fledged feature, and if the trailer below is any indication, this flick promises to be something akin to that remake of Miami Vice crossed with Austin Powers — but without all the funny jokes and plot points.

One of the original sketches, for your reference:

[via Moviefone]

Tags: Film, humor, MacGruber, snl, video

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One in every three online Americans is what Forrester calls a “conversationalist,” defined as someone who updates her status on Facebook or tweets at least once a week. Conversationalists are also older, wiser than other online denizens — and predominantly female.

Forrester’s “The New Social Technographics” report (embedded below) is the product of surveying 10,112 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 88 in November 2009 to better understand social adoption.

Conversationalists are a new type of online content creator who accounts for 33% of the online population, and they’re sandwiched in between the most involved web users who either blog or publish web content — called “creators” (24%) — and the more passive “critics” (37%), who participate online as commenters and reviewers. In the social hierarchy, critics are followed by collectors (20%), joiners (59%), spectators (70%) and inactives (17%).

These conversationalists are quite the interesting bunch, especially for marketers, as 56% are female — the highest concentration of women in any of the groupings. Seventy percent are 30 years of age or older, and 24% are older than 44. According to the report, conversationalists also have household incomes “slightly above average, and they’re more likely than any other social classification to have college degrees.”

A few other findings of interest:

- The highest concentration of Gen Y online users is in the creators group, with 37% of individuals between the ages of 18 and 29.

- The average conversationalist has a annual household income of $81,300.

- 48% of collectors have earned a college degree or higher.

Introducing the New Social Tech No Graphics

image courtesy of iStockphoto, Graffizone

Tags: conversationalist, facebook, forrester, social media, twitter

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On Friday, Verizon and AT&T both dropped the price of their unlimited voice plans. Yesterday was the first day that existing customers could switch to these new plans, and luckily BillShrink has put together a nice chart comparing the different U.S. mobile carriers side-by-side.

Despite lipspeak from carriers, trying to figure out the information using official websites (or even worse, the rate brochures) can still be confusing for consumers who might not understand what makes a phone a smartphone with a smartphone data plan and what makes a phone just a regular data phone.

Here is BillShrink’s Ultimate Cell Phone Plan Comparison Chart to clear matters up:

Please note, this chart assumes you want unlimited text messaging as part of your plan. For some wireless carriers, like AT&T, if you can stand having fewer tha 200 texts a month, you can shave another $15 off your bill. Unsurprisingly, the two largest U.S. carriers — Verizon and AT&T, are also the most expensive. The equivalent “all you can talk, text and data” plans cost $20 more a month respectively for a single smartphone line and up to $30 more a month for a family plan.

Tags: att, billshrink, verizon

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Photo by Shermeee.

Once upon a time people took photos and dutifully carted their film down to the photo shop to get developed, waiting to see how the photos turned out. Now people immediately check whether or not the shot was good on the display of their digital camera, and more often than not stuff the photos onto their hard drives or upload them to their Flickr accounts, but never get around to actually printing them and preserving them in a physical form. If you’ve been meaning to get around to printing more photos and saving them from their fate of digital obscurity, the following five Lifehacker reader-selected sites can help you.

For the sake of consistency among the pricing notes, each site’s price will be listed as the current price (as of 1/17/2010) for one 4×6 and one 8×10, two of the most common U.S. photographic print sizes and good indicators of the overall pricing scheme at the site. Pricing is only one element of photo printing, however, and we would strongly suggest reading our notes here and checking out the individual sites before selecting one over the other based on a few cent price difference.

It’s also worth noting that reviewing photo-printing services is very similar to reviewing, say, netbook computers. The end products are so similar to each other that the real test of whether or not you like one photo service over another photo service is to upload a couple photos and see if the little things—like the bulk uploader, the built-in editing tools, and the ordering interface—are features you are comfortable with—just like something as small as the keyboard spacing can make or break a netbook purchase.

Snapfish ($0.09/$2.99)

Snapfish is the most generous of the photo printing sites in the Hive Five. They offer 50 free 4×6 photos to first time customers—and have done so for years—so it’s a great place to start when trying out different photo sites. They also have some of the lowest pricing on basic prints, like glossy 4x6s, you’ll find anywhere. Snapfish also offers a happy medium between storing and ordering prints online and sometimes wanting or needing them immediately. Snapfish allows you to order your prints for delivery through the mail or for in-store pickup at stores like Walgreen’s, Walmart, or Meijer. Snapfish has an upload tool called PictureMover that will auto-detect when your camera or camera card is inserted into your computer and optionally upload the photos to a new album. Snapfish has—rather confusing—tiered pricing for every product they offer. Rather than even attempt to decode their shipping tables, you should always stop by RetailMeNot and grab a “free shipping” coupon code—Snapfish is almost perpetually running free shipping deals.

Shutterfly ($0.15/$3.99)

Shutterfly doesn’t offer rock bottom prices compared to other online outfits—although for small prints they are certainly reasonable—but it does shine with the most polished organizing and sharing system of the sites featured here today. It’s obvious a lot of time and thought was put into making it really easy to share photos and prints with friends and family. Although Shutterfly doesn’t offer a variety of pickup locations like Snapfish, you can order prints through Shutterfly for pickup at Target stores that have in-house photo processing. Shutterfly also has tiered—albeit less confusing—shipping rates which start at $1.79 for basic shipping and rise accordingly. You can view them here.

Mpix ($0.29/$1.99)

MPix offers a wide variety of print sizes (25+) and a diverse portfolio of additional services like mounting on standouts and canvas printing. They also, unlike some of the cheaper outfits, offer silver-based black and white printing to help digital photographers really show off their black and white prints in a more authentic way. MPix, unlike many other online photo services, also deals in film, but the price per exposure for development, scanning, and uploading to your MPix albums is $0.19 per exposure—we cringe to think what an 8GB SD card would cost to process at the film-rate. Shipping starts at $3.00 per order, additional rates are available here.

AdoramaPix ($0.19/$1.28)

AdoramaPix is the photo processing division of the enormous Adorama photography store—offering photo development services for photographers was a natural extension of their retail business. They offer the largest selection of photo paper of any contender in the Hive Five. You can select from seven different papers including those from the Kodak Endura line, Kodak Metallic, and True B&W for better black and white photos. Adorama offers 25 free 4×6 prints with every new account. Shipping is $2.95 for 50 prints of 5×7 size and under, $4.99 for any size prints of any quantity. Additional shipping rates detailed here.

Costco Photocenter ($0.13/$1.49)

Many people use Costco for printing because of the convenience of uploading their prints and then picking them up later that day at Costco while doing their shopping. The strong point of Costco’s printing services is definitely a combination of reasonable pricing and in-store pickup. The mail-order side of things isn’t a strong point with longer-than-average shipping times and lack-luster support. That said, if you’re already a Costco customer and you’re looking for convenient pickup without a heavy emphasis on print or paper variety, it’s an easy sell. Shipping is free for 4×6 prints, variable pricing for larger prints.

Which Photo Printing Service Is Best?(polls)

Have an experience with one of the above vendors—or bummed your favorite didn’t make the list? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

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From Silicon Valley to Zhongguancun, Google’s surprise announcement that it may pull out of China has fueled an enormous amount of discussion in recent days, not all of it 100% accurate. Below are some misstatements and misunderstandings we’ve seen:

1. Google failed in China

Google’s China operations contribute a small fraction of the company’s overall revenue – the company doesn’t disclose the amount, but analysts estimate it was a few percent of its total $21.8 billion in 2008 revenue, or several hundred million dollars. But Google has made significant progress in China in recent years, raising its share of the Internet search market to roughly 36% in the fourth quarter of 2009 from 13% when it started its Chinese-language google.cn site in early 2006, according to data from research firm Analysys International.

Many other foreign companies doing business in China would gladly forgo big profits in the short term for comparable market-share growth in China—especially in an industry where China has more users than any other country (384 million according to the latest statistics). Google has also been particularly popular among the highly sought-after demographic of young, educated, white-collar urban professionals. The company’s powerful brand of business and ethics (“don’t be evil) has also earned it a fair amount of good will among Chinese Internet users, many of whom are now mourning its (still uncertain) fate. While rival Baidu still has a much larger 58% share of the search market, its brand has suffered as a result of scandals involving paid results and allegations of censorship of sensitive news stories.

Google doesn’t say if it’s profitable in China, but there’s certainly no reason to assume it’s not. Baidu, its chief rival, reported net profit of about $153 million on revenue of $468 million for 2008, when it said it had 6,387 employees. Google’s revenue would have perhaps half or two thirds that amount, but it likely has a much lower cost base in China than Baidu, since Google is believed to employ well under 1,000 employees in the country, and can use technology developed by its U.S. headquarters.

2. Google.com is not accessible in China

Before Google introduced its China-specific search engine, Google.cn, in 2006, its global site Google.com was subject to periodic blocking in China. But for the last four years, Google.com has been almost always accessible to users in China.

However, the fact that Google.com can be accessed from China doesn’t mean that Internet users can get to forbidden content listed in the site’s search results. Links to sites that are blocked in China will still return error messages or time out when they are clicked. (In contrast, Google’s Chinese search engine, Google.cn, will filter out links to sites that don’t comply with Chinese laws and regulations.)

And of course, given the unpredictability of China’s Web restrictions, there’s no guarantee that Google.com will continue to be available to users inside China, at least not without “scaling the wall.”

3. Google has Gmail servers in China

Some reports have said that the reason Chinese hackers were able to access Gmail accounts is that Google has email servers physically located in China. This is not the case. Google says it has no email servers in the country.

Indeed, Google has said keeping its servers out of China was a deliberate move to help protect user information. When the company announced its plans to launch google.cn in January 2006, executives said one of the safeguards it planned to use to protect user interests was that it wouldn’t host user-generated content like email and blogs on servers in China.

Google had reason to be careful. In 2005, there was widespread outcry among rights activists and the U.S. government after Yahoo turned over user information to the Chinese government, which was used as evidence to sentence journalist Shi Tao to 10 years in prison. Yahoo said that, because its Chinese mail servers were inside China, the company felt compelled to comply with the authorities’ request.

4. Google.cn search results are already uncensored

After Tuesday’s announcement, Web users ran amok on Google.cn, looking up sensitive terms such as “Tiananmen 1989,” “tank man,” and even “sensitive words.” But many have been disappointed with the results, as searches for these terms still turned up the familiar disclaimer that “in accordance with local laws and regulations, a portion of the search results are not displayed.”

Google says that it hasn’t yet started to remove content filters on Google.cn, a process that could take weeks.

How to explain the images of tank man and links to sites about the Dalai Lama found via Google.cn? Many of the searches yielding fruitful results appear to have been conducted in English, a trick that often turns up fuller results on Google.cn than a search for the same term in Chinese. (To see what we mean, compare these Google.cn results for “Dalai Lama” in English and Chinese).

5. Google has identified Chinese dissidents as the targets of cyber attacks

Since Google revealed that it has been the target of cyber attacks, and that it had identified two Gmail accounts that had been compromised, a number of prominent Chinese activists have reported that their Gmail accounts have been hacked, in some cases repeatedly. Google says that these intrusions were not part of the larger, sophisticated attack on its security infrastructure, but likely the result of more pedestrian phishing scams or malware.

6. Google has already shut down its business in China

On Friday, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said that neither MOC nor the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce had received any information from Google about a planned withdrawal of its investment. A person close to Google also denied rumors that Google employees in China have ceased to report for work.

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The U.S. space agency NASA created a special Web site dedicated to the annular solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon passes in front of the son but doesn’t completely block it, creating a ring of sunlight surrounding the moon. The next eclipse that will exceed it in duration will take place on December 23, 3043.

Friday’s eclipse was visible on a 185-mile stretch beginning in Africa, where the shadow’s path moved east from Chad and travel across the Indian Ocean to Bangladesh, India, China, and Myanmar, according to NASA.

A number of news agencies posted photo galleries and videos documenting the eclipse path from locations in Africa and Asia.

And the New York Times’ Tierney Lab is featuring updates from astronomers who have journeyed to Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India, and are chronicling their observations of the solar eclipse.

One of the scientists, Williams College professor of astronomy Jay Pasachoff, writes: “This annular eclipse is particularly long, with 10 minutes and 9 seconds of annularity where I am going….It will be the longest central eclipse I have ever seen. (Total eclipses never exceed seven and a half minutes, and no total eclipse for the next hundred years will come even near that.)”

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Overall, sales for the year were down 8%, with revenues of close to $19.66 billion compared with $21.4 billion in 2008.

Nintendo held gaming court as it took three of the top ten best-selling game spots. The top-selling game in December 2009 was New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii, with 2.82 million units sold, followed by Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort with Wii Motion.

Runner-up was Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold 1.63 million units for Xbox 360, and 1.12 million copies for PS3. The game set all-time sales records in November 2009 when it raked in $310 million on its first day of sales in the U.S. and U.K., garnering the game its current spot as the fourth best-selling of all time.

Analysts had hoped that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 might help the industry post a mild gain after a dismal October report. Instead, the November 2009 NDP report said videogame console and game sales combined dropped 7.6% from a year-ago to $2.69 billion.

Portable hardware, a bright spot in the December report, was “flat in unit sales but saw an increase in dollar results, mainly from an increase in the average retail price of hardware,” says Anita Frazier, an analyst with The NPD group.

“Clearly, 2009 was tough year for consumers and the national economy,” Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, said in a prepared remark. “However…our industry’s structure is solid, and I anticipate a strong 2010 with a pipeline full of highly-anticipated titles,” he says, pointing out that 2008 and 2009 were the highest grossing years in the video game industry’s history.

Ms. Frazier’s comments point to overall growth since 2000 as a sign that the industry has “changed dramatically. When we started the last decade, video game industry sales totaled $7.98 billion in 2000. It has grown over those years by more than 250 percent at retail alone.”

Some analysts hope that the arrival of more 3-D content in video games in 2010 may further boost sales, but Ms. Frazier dispels that idea. “3-D itself is just a feature. If the game isn’t good or compelling, it’s not going to matter.” She points to Nintendo as an example of a company that has focused game content as opposed to “horsepower” in advanced technologies. “Nintendo made a strategic decision early on to focus on the fun of gaming, and the least technologically powerful console (the Wii) has sold more than its advanced counterparts.”

Nintendo’s top-ranked status in games comes after the Japanese gaming giant said last week that sales of the Wii console rebounded in December and indicated a recovery for the company, following a price cut of the console earlier in the year.

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The Xperia X10 will be powered by Android, and the interface uses Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is a comprehensive way to keep all your forms of communication in one place. Emails, texts, calls, social networking – all of them will be easily organized in one group using Timescape. Then Mediascape will be your one stop for videos, photos, and music.

A release date has not been announced for the U.S., but the Xperia X10 will drop in Canada Q1 or Q2 of this year.

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Google and the Chinese government have entered talks to discuss the future of Google’s search engine in China, according to Bloomberg.

Google’s recent threat to pull out of China unless it could serve search results uncensored has made front page news, elicited questions from the U.S., and affected the censorship debate.

Now according to an email response Bloomberg received, Google has been holding talks with Chinese authorities and will hold more “in the coming days.” The progress of the talks or what was discussed wasn’t revealed.

The fact that Google and China are in talks doesn’t surprise us. China is still one of the world’s largest economies and a market that hasn’t even come close to reaching its potential. Yet we’d be surprised if these talks result in a censored Google search engine within China. After the company’s strong stand last week, it’d be an embarassing about face to accept censorship once again.

We’ll keep our ears to ground and try to find out more details about the talks. We want to know what you think though: would Google be wise to stay in China with some restrictions or is it better off pulling out completely? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: censorship, china, Google, Google China

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Microsoft is deep in talks with Disney about getting ESPN content onto Xbox 360 consoles via Xbox LIVE, according to a report by The New York Times.

It makes sense. It’s an extension of the momentum Microsoft has already built up surrounding getting premium content onto its gaming console — from hooking in Netflix streaming to integrating the Zune Marketplace with the Xbox 360 for entertainment downloads.

In fact, the Xbox 360 is quickly blossoming into an all-around entertainment hub with recent social networking and Last.fm music integrations to boot. A deal with ESPN could bring live sporting events and new interactive sports games to the console for a per-subscriber fee, although sources say a final deal hasn’t yet been reached.

With almost 60% of U.S. homes now owning at least one game console, it makes sense for Microsoft (along with Sony and Nintendo) to be delivering on the multiple ways an Internet-connected box in the living room can be useful to consumers beyond simply gaming. As the race to bring Internet-streamed content into the living room continues to heat up, we’ll see a number of new partnerships and business models surrounding content on various platforms both hardware and software.

Would you welcome ESPN or other cable content on your Xbox 360 or other video game console? Would you consider paying to subscribe to à la carte TV channels on these devices?

Tags: cable, cable tv, disney, ESPN, gadgets, microsodft, tv, video games, xbox, Xbox 360, XBox live

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: CheckingFinder.com

Quick Pitch: CheckingFinder.com is a search engine that offers users the ability to find, compare and open a high-interest checking account.

Genius Idea: Although the big U.S. banks might seem like the only choice around, smaller institutions can offer lots of perks, including higher interest rates, a lack of ATM usage fees and no minimum balances. If you’re willing to do your banking online, you can get an account with the best banks, even if you live in another state. That’s where CheckingFinder comes in.

Just enter in your zip code and you’ll get back a list of banks (all insured by the FDIC, NCUA or ASI) that you can open a checking account with. Most have a very low minimum deposit, require no minimum balance or monthly fees and will credit you a certain number of ATM fees each month.

What’s the catch? Well, some banks will require that you use an account for a certain number of transactions or that you have a direct deposit or bill pay system setup. If you don’t meet the requirements, you can still have the free account with no penalty, you’ll just get a base interest rate and have to pay your own ATM fees.

You can also sign up for an account in a process that CheckingFinder.com claims takes about seven minutes. Some banks will even offer free savings accounts in addition to the checking account, so if you’re interested in that, look over your options.

If you’re looking for alternatives to the bigger banks, CheckingFinder.com is a good place to start your search.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: banking, banks, checkingfinder.com, finance

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The bill was introduced into the New Jersey senate by Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who also introduced a separate bill which calls for New Jersey residents to vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow state-regulated sports wagering in Atlantic City casinos, and to state residents via an intra-state Internet gambling system.

New Jersey currently offers gambling on horse races to state residents through the 4NJbets.com website. The state would expand the law to permit online versions of games currently allowed in Atlantic City casinos, such as Poker, Blackjack and Baccarat. The Internet gambling system would be regulated by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which would establish a Division of Internet Wagering to manage operations and licensing.

Joe Brennan Jr.
IMEGA’s chairman

"We’re happy that New Jersey has taken this issue into their own hands," said iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jr.

"New Jersey is recognized as having the toughest gaming regulators in the US, but as a leading gaming state with a long track record of doing things the right way, Internet gambling will have a great home here and the opportunity to begin normalizing the industry."

The iMEGA says it supports efforts in Washington DC by Representative Barney Frank (D) in the House and Senator Robert Menendez (D) in the Senate, to create a Federal path to regulation, the association worked with New Jersey legislators on the bill to establish continued progress toward regulate internet gambling in the U.S.

"The efforts to resolve the Internet gambling issue have stalled in Washington DC," Brennan said.

"If states assert their right to regulate gambling within their borders and take a serious look at permitting Internet gambling, one side effect may be a breaking of the deadlock in the US Congress."

Related Articles:

>U.S. Asked To Halt Online Gambling Rules

>Kentucky Supreme Court Hears Online Gambling Case

>Americans Favor Legalizing Online Poker

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According to John Letzing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today, "We support [Google's] action . . . to no longer censor searches that happen using the [Google] platform . . . .  [O]ur concern is with actions that threaten the universal rights of a free Internet."

That’s a rather bold statement.  The first part might imply that companies still doing business on China’s terms do not have the White House’s approval, and from there, it’s a slippery slope to cries of "un-American!" and other unpleasant accusations.  The part about threats to universal rights then almost brings to mind the idea of some sort of intervention.

Of course, governments have been known to declare much more dramatic things and do precisely nothing afterward, so don’t take this as WebProNews’s call to prepare for an armed international showdown.

It’s just very interesting that the U.S. government would weigh in on a company’s business decision at all, and then that it would do so in such a forceful manner.

Related Articles:

> Researchers Clarify What Is Known About Chinese Google Attacks

> China Responds To Google Situation

> Baidu’s Stock Soars Following China News

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Sales for the 5-week holiday period totaled $278 million dollars, up from the 13 percent decline during the 2008 holiday season.

The operating systems category showed the strongest improvement during the holiday season, boosted by the sales of Microsoft’s Windows 7. Overall operating systems revenue increased from $10 million in 2008 to $29 million in 2009. Education software performed well, with revenue increasing by 15 percent, driven y the strong performance of Rosetta Stone and Topics Entertainment.  Business software, which posted flat year-over-year holiday sales, was the highest revenue grossing retail software category, with sales of over $77 million.

"Despite a slight decline in overall sales, boxed software showed pockets of strength as publishers, especially Microsoft, invested money in holiday promotional activity," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. 

"Aggressive pricing on Office 2007 and continued strong sales of boxed versions of Windows 7 added a big kick to retail software sales during the holiday.  But weak results in the key utilities category, along with ongoing weakness in PC games sales proved too much for the market to overcome."
 

Related Articles:

> Bing Gets a Bunch of New Search Features

> Yahoo and Microsoft May Be Close to Signing

> Some Bing Users Seeing Latest Posts on Publisher Searches

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The ranking found AOL Advertising remains the top ad network, reaching 187 million U.S. Internet users, or 91 percent of the total audience, followed by the Yahoo Network (180.9 million) and the Google Ad Network (178.1 million).

The fastest growing ad network by audience reach among the top 15 was Microsoft Media Network, which grew 31 percent compared to a year ago, followed by Collective Network (up 22%) and Audience Science (up 16%).

"Ad networks continue to be a powerful mechanism for delivering a large audience online, with eight different networks reaching at least 75 percent of the entire U.S. online population," said comScore senior vice president Jeff Hackett.

"Increasingly, however, ad networks are improving their capability for reaching more targeted audiences as well, which delivers enhanced value to advertisers and helps sustain higher CPMs for the channel. 2010 should bring us continued innovation and performance from this growing online sector."
 

Related Articles:

> Nielsen Shares Predictions for Advertising Trends in 2010

> Email Marketing Budgets Set For Increase In 2010

> Online Video Viewing Continues To Boom

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The Social Analyst is a weekly column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

We’ve seen some major world events unfold on the social media stage this week, the biggest being Google’s threat to pull out of China and the Haiti earthquake.

Google’s actions have brought attention back to the long-standing Internet censorship that blankets China, while the destruction in Haiti has mobilized hundreds of thousands to open their wallets and their hearts.

Just like the Iran Election crisis, people are again assessing the impact of social media on the world. It’s clear that social media has the power to impact world politics and the lives of billions, but some have overstated what social media can actually do. We need to understand what social media really is in order to utilize it effectively for social good.

Let me explain by highlighting a few examples of social media’s impact on the world stage, and then concluding with how I view social media’s impact in the larger context of mobilization and world discussion.

The Iran Election Crisis

During summer 2009, the world’s eyes were fixated on Iran. Questions were raised after Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over rival Mousavi in Iran’s Presidential elections. The abnormalities and potential tampering of the vote resulted in massive protests that engulfed the Islamic nation.

Social media’s role in the Iran Election Crisis started with #CNNFail, but that was only the beginning of social media’s role. With the Iranian government clamping down on information and enforcing censorship, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube became the primary mediums for bringing information out of the conflicted nation and spreading notes between dissidents.

Take a look at the Iran Election social media timeline we built if you want to see its full impact. Key moments in the crisis, especially death of Neda, were recorded and spread like wildfire, creating an outpouring of support for the protesters. Twitter’s role was so important in fact that the U.S. government got involved in scheduling Twitter’s downtime.

In the end though, social media didn’t topple any governments, although it has helped shift the political climate in Iran. In some cases the use of Twitter in Iran was overstated, yet the result is that the tipping point for Iran is close, thanks to social media.

The Haiti Earthquake

After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake (and multiple aftershocks) devastated the nation of Haiti, social media became the medium in which everybody spread the word. Dramatic Haiti earthquake Twitter pictures swept across the web, while tech giants mobilized.

The most impressive part of social media’s impact on Haiti has to be the charity text message campaign that has already raised more than $10 million for Haiti victim relief. Social media spread the word, technology made it possible.

It’s not all perfect, though: the money raised is small compared to the relief coming from world governments and donations face 90 day delays. Still, social media for social good is becoming more and more effective with each crisis.

The China-Google Standoff

While we are still far from the conclusion of this messy affair, Google’s threat to pull out of China has already had a dramatic effect in both social media and political circles.

Politically, China has been put under pressure. The U.S. government has thrown its support behind Google, though it’s doubtful that the Obama administration will get involved in the end.

More importantly though, social media is being used to lift China’s blanket of censorship. Social tools, while many are blocked by the Chinese, can get through China’s great firewall. We have the tools to undo censorship in China. Google’s efforts have re-ignited the debate over censorship, but they won’t break the barrier.

Breaking Down Social Media’s Global Impact

In all three cases (China, Haiti, and Iran), social media has had an impact, especially as the course of events evolved. Real-time communication platforms like Twitter and Facebook have spread the word about what’s happening within these nations, long before the mainstream media prints the story. These tools have also created a level awareness we’ve never seen before.

We have to be realistic, though: new media isn’t going to stop censorship, overthrow oppressive regimes, or heal the people of Haiti alone. Social media has transformed communication, media, and the transmission of information, but it still takes people on the ground to pull people out of the rubble or to fight for freedom.

Just as Paul Revere embarked on his midnight ride to warn that the British were coming, social media acts as both the first warning and the rallying cry for mobilization. In the end though, social media is just a collection of tools. It’s up to us, the people, to make the real impact on our world.

Tags: china, Column, Earthquake, Google, haiti, iran, politics, social media, The Social Analyst, trending, U.S.

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On Friday McDonald’s officially added free Wi-Fi to the menu at most U.S. locations. Now you can have your Big Mac, fries and free Wi-Fi at 11,500 McDonald’s across the country.

News of the free Wi-Fi deal was initially announced in mid-December, but now the service is live.

You may recall that the fast food chain was previously serving up Wi-Fi for $2.95 for two hours of internet access, but AT&T swooped in to the rescue. By eliminating the cost, McDonald’s is taking yet another step to position their brand as an alternative to higher priced coffee retail chains.

There are 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the US – the small number that didn’t have Wi-Fi previously don’t appear to be part of the rollout.

[via Engadget]

[img credit: Tony the Misfit, Flickr]

Tags: Food, free wifi, McDonalds

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Nokia and Apple are in the middle of an intense patent war. Apple’s latest counter-strike is a complaint filed with the International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking to block US imports of Nokia mobile devices. This comes on the heels of Nokia’s own complaint seeking to ban imports of iPhones, iPods, and MacBooks.

Bloomberg reports that Apple’s efforts to block the import of Nokia devices are tied to yet another patent infringement complaint, and that notice of the complaint appeared yesterday on the ITC’s website.

The suit, countersuit back-and-forth between Nokia and Apple began in late October of 2009 with Nokia’s original lawsuit, filed in a Delaware District Court, against Apple for wireless technology patent infringement. Apple, of course, filed a countersuit. Then in December Nokia continued on the warpath with a complaint to the ITC and followed that up with a second complaint requesting the ITC block imports of Apple products.

Given that Apple’s mobile market share continues to grow while Nokia’s is declining, we can certainly understand why Nokia would feel threatened enough to take action, and why Apple would be compelled to respond. Both companies are facing harsh penalties that could severely affect their bottom lines and stock prices.

In a statement made via text message, Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said, “Nokia will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously … However this does not alter the fact that Apple has failed to agree appropriate terms for using Nokia technology and has been seeking a free ride on Nokia’s innovation since it shipped the first iPhone in 2007.”

Bloomberg also writes that:

“The ITC is a government agency whose job is to protect the U.S. market from unfair trade practices, including patent infringement. If it agrees to consider Apple’s complaint, it could complete the investigation in about 15 months. A copy of the Apple complaint wasn’t immediately available.

The agency hasn’t yet agreed to investigate the complaint filed Dec. 29 by Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, although the ITC typically grants such requests.”

Something tells us that we haven’t seen the end of this mobile mêlée.

[via Engadget]

[Img credit: DNY59, iStockphoto]

Tags: apple, ITC, Nokia, patent infringement

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: 5pm

Quick Pitch: 5pm is a web-based project management tool

Genius Idea: There are lots of different web-based project management tools out there. Of the big names, 37 Signals’ Basecamp is probably the most well known. 5pm offers a similar featureset, but also offers stuff like custom report creation, time tracking as a standard feature, a free desktop time tracking widget, and a strong mobile interface.

We like that you can try 5pm for 14 days without having to use a credit card. That’s always a nice plus, especially since the only way to really evaluate a project management service is to actually use it. 5pm has its own SOAP API and can integrate with iCal, import Gmail contacts and import Google Docs.

You can also create project groups, share files and customize the interface. Using the 5pm demo, I was struck by two things: 1) how awesome the “Office Space” references are, 2) how easy the system was to use without any sort of primer. Pricing starts at $18 a month for 5 users and there are multiple pricing tiers.

5pm is attractive and packs a good featurset. If you are on the lookout for a web-based project management tool, give the free trial a shot.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: 5pm, project management, software

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The Golden Globes are on Sunday night and Joan Rivers isn’t the only one who will be on the Red Carpet, Digg will be there too! NBC is broadcasting the event live (meaning 8 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. PST), and online red carpet coverage will start at 2:30 p.m. PST.

Every day this week, Digg has been providing segments for the Golden Globes Live Show on Ustream, and they will be behind the scenes Sunday to bring more live coverage to Internet watchers. Disclosure: Mashable also had a segment in the daily Golden Globe shows, featuring yours truly.

Since Digg will be there, they want to hear from readers: What celebrities should they talk to and what questions should they ask? The movie and television communities converge at the Globes, which means there are some unique opportunities to talk to lots of different stars. You can submit your questions in the comments of this Digg post.

The Golden Globes has really reached out to social media this year. NBC.com and Dick Clark Productions, along with Ustream and Facebook, have been promoting the event all week and are offering behind-the-scenes interviews and other more interactive features. Plus, because the show will be broadcast live across the U.S., West Coasters won’t have the results spoiled by Twitter.

Do you still watch award shows? What do you think about the outreach to social media and Internet groups? Let us know!

Tags: digg, Film, golden globes, tv

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In a statement issued today, the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (known as BSI) recommends that all Internet Explorer users switch to an alternative browser. They may resume using Explorer after a fix is issued by Microsoft for a critical vulnerability that has been implicated in the Chinese cyberattack against Google.

If you missed it, yesterday McAffee released a report outlining details of the cyber assault on Google and around 20 other major technology companies. It specifically implicates a critical flaw in all versions of IE that allows hackers to “perform reconnaissance and gain complete control over the compromised system.” Microsoft has responded that it is developing an update to the vulnerability.

According to the statement from BSI, even running Internet Explorer in “protected” mode is not enough to prevent a hacker from exploiting this security flaw.

IE, while the world’s most popular browser, has been steadily losing marketshare over perceptions that it is slower and less secure than rival browsers, especially Firefox. This incident won’t help.

The full statement, translated via Google, is below:

Translated Statement from Germany

“In Internet Explorer, there is a critical yet unknown vulnerability. The vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious code via a specially crafted Web page into a Windows computer to infiltrate and set up. The last week became known hacker attack on Google and other U.S. companies has probably exploited the vulnerability.

Affected are the versions 6, 7 to 8 Internet Explorer on Windows systems XP, Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft has released a security advisory in which it discusses ways of minimizing risk and is already working on a patch to close the security gap. The BSI expects that this vulnerability will be used in a short time for attacks on the Internet.

Running the Internet Explorer in ‘protected mode’ as well as disabling scripting Acitve Although more difficult to attack, but it can not completely prevented. Therefore, the BSI recommends to switch to the existence of a patch from Microsoft to an alternative browser.

Once the vulnerability has been closed, the BSI will provide information on its warning and information about public-CERT. Keep informed about the civic-CERT and the BSI warns citizens and small and medium enterprises from viruses, worms and vulnerabilities in computer applications. The expert analysis of the BSI around the clock, the security situation in the Internet and send alerts when action is needed and safety information via e-mail.”

Tags: germany, internet explorer, software

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Attributor’s FairShare Guardian service monitored 913 popular books in 14 categories in the fourth quarter of 2009.  FairShare tracked the number of successful downloads completed for each of the 913 titles on four file sharing sites that make download data available (4shared.com, scribd.com, wattpad.com and docstoc.com). Across those four sites, a total of 3.2 million downloads took place.

Across the top 25 one-click hosting sites a total download figure of over 9 million copies was projected with an estimated loss of $380 million. Each book’s retail price and category information was collected from Amazon.com.

Among the 14 book categories tracked, piracy was most common in the business and investing category with an average of 13,000 free downloads per title. The professional and technical category trailed followed by science, computer and Internet.

The 913 titles in this study represents works from publishers totaling 13.5 percent of the U.S. book publishing market. Projecting the $380 million value to the entire industry results in total potential piracy of $2.8 billion.
 

Related Articles:

>Illegal File Sharing In The UK Declines

>Streaming Music Turning Users Away From Music

>French Lawmakers Take Up Revised Internet Piracy Bill

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Retail sales in the PC game software industry also saw declines, with revenues down 23 percent, reaching $538 million in 2009. The total console, portable and PC game software industry hit $10.5 billion, an 11 percent decrease compared to the $11.7 billion generated in 2008.

"December sales broke all industry records and underscores the incredible value consumers find in computer and video games even in a down economy," said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, the trade group which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers.

"This is a very strong way to transition into 2010. I anticipate these solid sales numbers to continue upward through 2010 with a pipeline full of highly-anticipated titles."

Portable hardware was a bright spot with a 6 percent increase in revenue in 2009, while the remaining video game categories all saw declines, with the largest decrease coming from console hardware (-13%). Consoles software and portable software both saw declines of 10 percent, while video game accessories saw a 1 percent dip.

"When we started the last decade, video game industry sales, including PC games, totaled $7.98B in 2000," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

"In ten years, the industry has changed dramatically in many ways, but most importantly it was grown over those years by more than 250 percent at retail alone.  Considering there are many new sources of revenue including subscriptions and digital distribution, industry growth is even more impressive."

Related Articles:

>US Video Game Revenue Down 31%

>Digital Music Sales Closing In On CDs

>42% Of Americans Play Games Online

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Update 2: On a related note, while various sources the U.S. government is backing Google’s decision, Voice of America reports:

The top American official in China says the U.S. government will stay out of negotiations between Internet giant Google and the Chinese government.  At the same time, though, he stressed that the issue of Internet freedom is related to free speech, which is a core American value.

 …

He said the U.S. government sees the American company’s negotiations with China as a business matter and therefore will not get involved.

Update:

Normal
0

According to multiple sources, the attacks exploited a new security hole in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Microsoft is working with Google and other partners o patch the hole. The attackers called the attacks "Operation Aurora", according to McAfee.

Original Artilcle: There has been a lot of confusion and mixed reporting going on around this whole Google China situation. Verisign, whose iDefense team who has researched the attacks took note of this and put up a blog post trying to clear the air. Read that to get a clear summarization of what the firm knows. Within that, Verisign says:

The attack bears significant resemblance to a July 2009 attack in which attackers launched targeted e-mail campaigns against approximately 100 IT-focused companies. The July attack employed a PDF file that exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Reader.  The malware associated with the summer attacks communicated with Command & Control Servers configured similarly to the Command and Control Servers involved in the Google attacks. In fact, the C&C servers from the Google attacks are within the same subnet and six IP addresses apart from the Command and Control server addresses in the summer attacks.

Considering the similarity of the two attacks, it is likely that the summer attacks and the Google attacks originate from the same actor and that the organizations targeted in the Silicon Valley attacks have been compromised since July. It is not much of a stretch to speculate (This is the speculation part) that both attacks leveraged an Adobe vulnerability although that has not been confirmed and Google is not talking.

According to reports, iDefense declares that the Chinese govenrment was behind the effort, which explains Google’s actions, and the involvement of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said:

We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation. The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy. I will be giving an address next week on the centrality of internet freedom in the 21st century, and we will have further comment on this matter as the facts become clear.

Chinese government officials were quoted by Bloomberg:

"The Chinese government administers the Internet according to law and we have explicit stipulations over what content can be spread on the Internet," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular briefing in Beijing today. Chinese law prohibits hacking and other forms of online attacks, she said, declining to say whether that law also applies to state agencies.

"Effective guidance of public opinion on the Internet is an important way of protecting the security of online information," Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, said in a question-and-answer session with reporters, a transcript of which was posted on the office’s Web site today.

Google.cn is still accessible (at least from here in the U.S.), and it is no longer censoring search results. Among the other companies affected by the attacks were Yahoo and Adobe.

Related Articles:

> China Responds To Google Situation

> Baidu’s Stock Soars Following China News

> Google May Quit China

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New data from social media analytics firm Sysomos shows that despite the U.S. traffic flatline, Twitter is still growing in popularity internationally.

Whereas in June of last year the U.S. accounted for 62 percent of all active Twitter users, that number has fallen to 50 percent. Significant growth in countries like Germany, Brazil and Indonesia has contributed to Twitter’s burgeoning international user share over the past six months.

Brazil’s growth from 2 percent to 8.8 percent puts it in second place behind the United States for active Twitter users. The UK is close behind at 7.2 percent. Drilling down into users by city, London, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, New York City and Chicago make up the top five in terms of unique users, but New York contributes the most total tweets at 2.37 percent. The data above was compiled from a study of more than 13 million unique Twitter accounts active between October 16 and December 16, 2009.

Another interesting reveal from the study is how startlingly few Twitter users have enabled the location feature that allows geographic information to be attached to their tweets. Only a paltry 0.23 percent of 10 million tweets Sysomos looked at this week were tagged with their locations.

The geolocation feature has only been live to all since November, though, so it may just take some time for the concept to reach people — and for third parties to build features that really take advantage of the location information. For now, it seems that not many people feel there’s a compelling reason to enable the location service just yet.

Surely Twitter’s push to launch its various language versions, including German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese, has contributed to its international growth spurt. Do you think international growth is the key to solving Twitter’s growth problem?

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: Brazil, germany, Indonesia, social media, stats, traffic, twitter, united states

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Moveidiot.com

Quick Pitch: Free, web-based service that takes the hassle out of moving by allowing users to manage entire moves online.

Genius Idea: Moveidiot.com aims to make moving less painful by letting you track your packages, organize your packing lists and coordinate tasks all from its web-based service.

Moving sucks. It is often expensive, stress-inducing and takes tons of time. Managing the little details of a move, like indexing what’s in certain boxes or keeping track of different appointments, only adds to the stress of packing and physically moving to a new place. That’s what Moveidiot.com wants to help dissipate.

At Moveidiot.com, you can manage the various organizational aspects of your move in one place. If you’re shipping stuff across the country, you can track packages from USPS, UPS and FedEx. You can also create moving labels to put on boxes and lists of what’s inside each box and where it needs to go.

Probably the most enticing feature about Moveidiot.com is the Moving Checklist, which is a to-do list that will alert you of stuff you need to do. You can also manage your moving budget, which is handy if you’re trying to decide between hiring movers or renting a truck yourself.

Moveidiot.com is entirely web-based, so you can use it from any Mac or PC, or access your stuff from your mobile phone. If you’re planning a move and need some organizational help, this free service might be worth a look.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: movieidiot.com, moving, web apps

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"The Chinese government administers the Internet according to law and we have explicit stipulations over what content can be spread on the Internet," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular briefing in Beijing today. Chinese law prohibits hacking and other forms of online attacks, she said, declining to say whether that law also applies to state agencies.

"Effective guidance of public opinion on the Internet is an important way of protecting the security of online information," Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, said in a question-and-answer session with reporters, a transcript of which was posted on the office’s Web site today.

Google.cn has reportedly stopped censoring its results, and many expect it to be blocked, although (at least from here in the U.S.) it is currently still accessible, and even has a doodle up.

Original Article: Google’s situation in China appears to be the biggest story to hit the tech industry in some time, at least in terms of discussion. If you’re not up to speed, we covered Google’s announcement here. What it boils down to is that Google may shut down its operations in China, where it has been censoring search results. Google is now taking the stance of no longer censoring, and the world is waiting to find out if and how China and Google can resolve the issue.

Share your two cents about the Google China situation.

It has come to light that the attacks against Google that kicked this whole thing off were part of a string of attacks against 33 companies according to iDefense (this is more than the "at least 20" Google suggested). The other companies are all unknown at this point, except Adobe. Wired Threat reports:

A hack attack that targeted Google in December also hit 33 other companies, including financial institutions and defense contractors, and was aimed at stealing source code from the companies, say security researchers at iDefense.

The hackers used a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Reader to deliver malware to the companies and were in many cases successful at siphoning the source code they sought, according to a statement distributed Tuesday by iDefense, a division of VeriSign. The attack was similar to an attack that targeted other companies last July, the company said.

As Google noted in its announcement, it looks like a goal of the attackers was to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese Human Rights activists. Again, more on the original story here.

The U.S. government is now involved. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued the following statement:

We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation. The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy. I will be giving an address next week on the centrality of internet freedom in the 21st century, and we will have further comment on this matter as the facts become clear.

Opinions and speculation are rapidly flying around all over the web. Some feel that Google’s move is more of a business decision than really about "not being evil" and ethics. Robert Scoble, who is "torn" on this notion, has an interesting analysis up, in which he talks about "the push and pull of China" based on his travels to the country.

Here are a few other noteworthy reactions from various blogs and news outlets:

Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider:

"Google made the right decision to build a business in China a few years ago.  And it’s making the right decision now, by threatening to pull out of the country if China doesn’t relax its censorship demands. "

"Google’s decision to make a big public threat now, when it controls 15%-20% of China’s search market and is known to most Chinese Internet users, will put far more pressure on the Chinese government to relax its policies than a boycott of the country five years ago would have."

Google matters in China now. 

Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine:

Note that even Google’s cofounder, Sergey Brin, has waffled if not agonized over the company’s China policy.

Will the Chinese people revolt at losing Google? We can only hope. Will other companies now have to hesitate before doing the dictators’ bidding? We can only hope. Will Google be punished by Wall Street? It probably will. But as I’ve argued, we should hope that Google’s pledge, Don’t be evil, will one day be chiseled over the doors of Wall Street.

Frank Reeding at Marketing Pilgrim:

While the Chinese people are clearly in favor of Baidu as their engine of choice, if Google were to say that they will not do business in China what kind of pressure does that place on other companies to possibly isolate the biggest and fastest developing market in the world? This could get interesting.

From the New York Times:

"The whole industry will become worse," says Yu Yang, chief executive of Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm. "As for Baidu, without competition with Google, Baidu has no motivation to innovate."

Stephen E. Arnold at Beyond Search:

"Amidst the furor of the Google – China issue, I noticed that most of the pundits ignored the global disruptive power of a Google decision. I may be one of the few—maybe the only addled goose—pointing out that Google operates like a nation-state, not a garden variety company."

Patrick Chovanec at Seeking Alpha

But in China, nobody issues an ultimatum — especially not to the government — unless they are fully expecting a final and irreconcilable break. As long as you have some hope of a favorable outcome, you bite your tongue. That’s precisely why Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have uttered not a word of complaint, even as a six-month ban on accessing those sites has left their Chinese market share in ruins. Google’s decision to publicly throw down the gauntlet — a move sure to be seen by the Chinese government as a virtual declaration of war — is a sign the company has already written off China and is ready to pack its bags.

Philipp Lenssen at Blogoscoped quotes Google lawyer on CNBC:

When CNBC asked Google’s David Drummond in an interview, "Can you verify… that the cyber attacks were government based?”, David answered: "I want to be very careful here and be very clear. We’re not saying, one way or the other, whether these attacks were state-sponsored or done with any approval of the state. We can’t speculate on that at this point. What we do know is that they were highly organized, and we believe that the attacker came from China, and we know that political dissidents and people interested in human rights in China were clearly targeted here."

As another speculative reason, Google now fighting for an uncensored Google.cn could have been part of the original plan, too: first, get into the market and find a relevant amount of users; second, potentially use that user base leverage for discussions about free speech issues.

Rebecca MacKinnon at RConversation:

Google’s decision was tough and is going to have a great deal of difficult fallout. Still, based on what I know, I think Google has done the right thing. They are sending a very public message – which people in China are hearing – that the Chinese government’s approach to Internet regulation is unacceptable and poisonous. They are living up to their "don’t be evil" motto – much mocked of late – and living up to their commitments to free speech and privacy as a member of the Global Network Initiative.

The best way to keep up with the most recent commentary may be to follow a query like this on Twitter.

Though there has already been an incredible amount of discussion on this topic, you can pretty well guarantee that it is only the beginning. As more of the story unfolds, it’s going to be quite interesting to see how the Google China situation turns out. It is big for the search industry in China, and it is big on a government level. It will also be interesting to see what to what extent the U.S. government gets involved.

What do you think of Google’s actions? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related Articles:

> Google May Quit China

> Gmail Switches to Default Https Encryption Following Attack

> Google Bows to Chinese Authors on Book Scanning

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• Google Flu Trends in 121 U.S. cities
  “By tracking the popularity of certain Google search queries, we’re able to estimate the level of flu in near real-time.” They can do anything! [Official Google Blog]
• Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell to Make Us Miserable
  I had an I-hate-you-printer moment earlier this afternoon, so we can sympathize. [Gizmodo]
• E-Mail? Free. Internet? That’ll Cost You.
  Continental airlines is looking at a new in-flight Wi-Fi program that would let users send and receive email for free, but require them to pony up for a full connection. [NYT]
• Tip: More omnibox power tools
  Small update of fun omnibox tricks in Chrome. Nothing too fancy, but good to know. [Google Chrome Blog]
• Google May Insert Real-Time Ads Onto Old Billboards in Street View
  The virtual future of billboard advertisements. [Gizmodo]
• Is Wal-Mart Ready to Try Web TV Again, With Vudu’s Help?
  Wal-Mart aims to take on Netflix with a new service. [AllThingsD]
• Apple Remote Desktop 3.3.2 update now available
  Manage a lot of Macs remotely? This update’s for you. [TUAW]
• Zune HD Firmware Update Bringing XviD and Streaming Playlists In Spring
  The Zune HD is a great little media player (I’ve tried it and really liked it), and the next firmware update will only make it better. [Gizmodo]
• Facebook blocks “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine,” now a cease-and-desist reported
  We wrote about the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine last week, and now Facebook—who initially blocked it—has filed a cease and desist letter. [Boing Boing]
• Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier’s own ETF
  The Nexus One isn’t that different from other phones after all—you’ll still have to pay a hefty $350 early termination fee if you leave T-Mobile early. (If you can, we’d say go unlocked.) [Engadget]
• New! CrossLoop Ver 2.70 with Additional Features for CrossLoop Pro Accounts
  We love CrossLoop for no-hassle remote support and screen sharing, and now if you really love it, you can go pro. [CrossLoop]
• Windows Mobile 7 reportedly delayed until 2011
  Maybe the goal is to erase everyone’s memory of its existence before a mighty comeback! [Download Squad]

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U.S. Holds Fire in Google-China Feud: U.S. government officials and business leaders were supportive but wary of taking sides in Google’s battle with China, a sign of the delicate tensions between the growing superpower and the West.

Inside Scoop on Sony’s E-Reader: The wireless Reader Daily Edition is a much-improved model that could make it more competitive with Kindle, but its interface takes some mastering, says Walt Mossberg.

H-P, Microsoft Partner Against Rivals: H-P and Microsoft agreed to jointly invest $250 million over the next three years to develop inexpensive online computing services.

Music Price-Fixing Suit Reinstated: A U.S. federal appeals court reinstated an antitrust lawsuit against the major record labels over alleged price-fixing of Internet music downloads.

Silicon Valley Counsel Role Grows: General counsels at Silicon Valley companies are facing more regulations and pressure to boost transparency, disclosure and governance at their firms.

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IBM Corp. topped the list of corporate patent issuers in 2009 for the 17th year in a row and says it will use its prowess to help other companies file and manage patents.

The Armonk, NY, based technology giant received 4,914 new patents in 2009, according to IFI Patent Intelligence in Wilmington, Delaware. Korea’s Samsung Electronics was second with 3,611 patents and Microsoft Corp. was third with 2,906.

IBM, which has moved away from making personal computers and other hardware in recent years, is focusing heavily on developing computer software and services, patenting new technologies in a variety of applications. In the past year, the company has added patents related to massive, parallel super-computing and has patented technologies to improve technologies for traffic management systems and electricity grids.

Roughly, “a third of our patents typically are incorporated into our products and services,” said Manny Schecter, IBM’s Chief Patent Counsel. “Clearly, not everything we do is incorporated into our products and services.” The company makes money licensing its 30,000 patents as well.

“Innovation in American firms is far from declining, in fact, many had impressive gains and several posted record numbers of total new patents,” said Darlene Slaughter, general manger of IFI Patent Intelligence. The group found that American companies captured only 49% of U.S. patents granted to companies in 2008 and 2009, compared to 50% in 2007. U.S. companies held four of the top 10 slots of issuers, down from five the previous year. Japanese companies were the closest competitors with five of the top 10 slots and 23% of total patents. South Korea, Germany and Taiwan were distant third, fourth and fifth place-finishers.

On that score, IBM is now offering to formally expand its software and consulting services to patent management for other companies or individuals. It says it already has roughly 10 clients and hopes to gain more. IBM would help companies select inventions to patent and would help manage patent fees and filings.

“It’s just getting the know how to someone who wants to figure out how to patent at a basic level,” said Chris Andrews, a spokesman for IBM Research. IBM would help them “hit the ground running more efficiently and avoid some bumps in the road.”

The economic downturn in 2009, however, did not slow overall patent activity. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 167,350 utility patents in calendar year 2009, slightly up 6.1% from 2008 according to the group’s data.

IBM has even patented its prowess at patenting: U.S. patent #7,630,915 “Intellectual property management method and apparatus” on December 8, 2009.

List of Top 10 Corporate Patent Issuers in 2009

1 IBM 4,914

—– ————————– ———–

2 Samsung 3,611

—– ————————– ———–

3 Microsoft 2,906

—– ————————– ———–

4 Canon 2,206

—– ————————– ———–

5 Panasonic 1,829

—– ————————– ———–

6 Toshiba 1,696

—– ————————– ———–

7 Sony 1,680

—– ————————– ———–

8 Intel 1,537

—– ————————– ———–

9 Seiko Epson 1,330

—– ————————– ———–

10 HP 1,273

—– ————————– ———–

* Data provided by IFI Patent Intelligence

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From China Real Time Report:

Google (GOOG) may be setting a new standard that could have sweeping impact for foreign companies in China – and possibly have ramifications for its tens of millions of Chinese users. But no one will be more affected than the U.S. company’s hundreds of Chinese employees, including some of the nation’s top engineering graduates. Until recently they had what were considered some of the most coveted jobs in China’s technology industry. Now, they’re facing an uncertain future.

For staffers, saying goodbye to Google–if it closes its China office, as it warned might happen—would mean saying goodbye to the company’s plush offices. Its Beijing headquarters has video games, a gym where people can take yoga and salsa classes, and a cafeteria that Google employees have boasted is top-notch.

On a more serious note, aside from potentially losing their jobs, Google employees in China may find themselves also may find themselves caught in the middle of any antipathy from the government over Google’s public snub. Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond assured in his statement stressed that the decision was made “without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today.” Google’s decision to review its business operations in China “has been incredibly hard,” the statement said. “It will have potentially far-reaching consequences.”

But there may be some silver lining for Chinese Googlers: they are likely to be prime candidates for poaching by eager Internet competitors. “I bet the biggest crowd outside the Google office in Beijing this morning [was] a crowd of headhunters,” says an only half-joking Dan Brody, an ex-Google China employee and CEO of Koolanoo Group, which operates several Chinese Web sites.

Technically, a closure of Google.cn doesn’t necessarily mean the company will be forced to exit China completely. Aside from a number of investments Google has made in Chinese companies, Google may also have clients in China who want to advertise on its English Web site. But since the company has yet to begin de-faltering its Chinese content, and Chinese authorities have yet to respond to Mr. Drummond’s statement, it’s hard to say just how difficult things will get, or how many people will stick around to find out.

–Loretta Chao and Aaron Back

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Vodafone has been rumored for a while now to bring the Google Nexus One to places it hasn’t already boldly gone to. The phone has been launched in the U.S., UK, Hong Kong and Singapore so far but customers in other markets are waiting impatiently for it despite whatever 3G troubles it might currently be going through.
(…)
Read the rest of Google Nexus One Available from Vodafone Germany in February [Google Nexus One to Sell for €149.90 with New Vodafone Contracts]

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It also has its own Popapps which will enable even more functions to your box and TV. How about Twittering right from the comfort of your sofa in front of the TV. Yup, it will be possible once you get the Pop Box. It will cost around $129 if you go with the LAN version or $149 if you go with the WiFi version of it. It will be released later this year but boy am I getting one.

I have long wanted to buy the Apple TV box but its near to insignificant interest from the public I have held myself from getting one. Maybe there was a reason for that and now when the Pop Box is showing up on the market I can fully understand why I wouldn’ go and buy an Apple TV box.

But, it remains to see if there is really a use for it in Europe or if it just for the American public to start with. Well, if not I’ll just have to get one as soon as I am moving to the U.S…

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Ales, stouts, porters, pilsners… so many beers, too little time. To help you navigate this vast and varied world of beer, you can always turn to your iPhone. There are plenty of beer apps available on iTunes — everything from beer games to reference guides — even apps that attempt to measure your levels of drunkenness.

iPhone wielding beer enthusiasts can rejoice over the following apps to satisfy your malty, hoppy and lager-induced desires.  After all, there’s nothing like cracking open a frosty brew at the end of a long day –- or simulating it.

1. iBeer

---

iBeer is one of those fun apps that doesn’t really do anything but entertain. It simulates a pint of beer that you can jostle and drink. With five different beers to choose from, the visual of tipping the glass (iPhone) back and seeing the liquid disappear is strikingly real. The loud burp at the end is an added bonus. No beer-related apps list would be complete without this popular one.

Cost: $0.99

2. Gallagher’s Beer Guide

---

This app is a fantastic resource for a beer novice or one who wants to learn more about different brews. Divided into 12 categories, including brown ales, stouts and porters, and IPAs, Gallagher’s Beer Guide provides you with information on taste characteristics, popular choices within each category, and related styles.

Cost: $0.99

3. Guinness Pub Finder

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There’s something unmistakably refreshing about a nice, cold Guinness. The dark, chocolaty and rich beer has its devout following, enough to spawn an iPhone app dedicated to finding exactly where this draught is served. Another fun feature of this app is its “Six Steps to Creating the Perfect Pint” lesson.

Note: Unfortunately, residents in AK, AZ, GA, HI, IN, KT, MO, OH, PA, TX and WV will find that this app does not work due to specific state laws related to alcohol advertising.

Cost: $1.99

4. iBeers Pro

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With more than 2,700 varieties listed in this app, iBeers Pro is like a who’s who of beer. Each beer lists the country of origin, brewer, type of beer and bottle size, as well as user ratings and an ability to add it to your favorites list. This is a good app to have for adventurous beer drinkers who like to go beyond the brews they’re familiar with. This app also comes in a Lite version for $1.99 and the regular iBeers version for $2.99. 

Cost: $3.99 

5. BeerCloud

---

If $3.99 is a little too steep and you’d rather get the information for free, BeerCloud is a good alternative. Although not as comprehensive as iBeers Pro, BeerCloud does offer the ability to search for beers, as well as determine where, via GPS tracking, a particular beer of choice is available near you.   

Cost: FREE 

6. Beer Match: Beer, Food & Cheese Pairings

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Do you know what kind of beer goes best with Cajun food? How about lamb chops? If not, Beer Match can help you. By pairing 31 styles of beer with more than 500 different kinds of foods (including cheeses), you can instantly find out if the pale ale or the stout is the better choice when planning your menu. 

Cost: $0.99 

7. Drink Fit

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They don’t call it a beer belly for nothing. As tasty as it is, you can quickly pack on the pounds if beer is consumed in excess. Drink Fit is a great app that provides users with full nutritional information for more than 1,600 drinks (including beer, cocktails, wine) and also offers a “My Night” feature where users can tally their caloric consumption for one evening of drinking. It’s a great app for anyone who is conscious about their dietary intake. 

Cost: $1.99 

8. Find Craft Beer

---

If big name beers don’t do it for you and you seek more of an off-the-beaten path microbrew, then this is a perfect app. Find Craft Beer uses GPS tracking to locate brew pubs, breweries, beer bars, beer stores and homebrew stores near you. The settings function enables you to select from any or all of these types of locations to identify the nearest locale to get a tasty microbrew. 

Cost: $0.99 

9. iBrewMaster

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For more ambitious beer drinkers who like to make their own brews, iBrewMaster is a comprehensive app that takes home brewers through the whole process. The app comes with 50 recipes and also enables users to keep thorough track of multiple batches that are being brewed at the same time. 

Cost: $4.99 

10. Happy Houred

---

Who doesn’t like a good Happy Hour? This app scours local bars in your area to find any happy hour specials near you. Happy Houred currently offers search functionality in approximately 700 cities in the U.S. but is predominantly user-generated, so new bars and happy hour specials are constantly being added.

Cost: FREE

More iPhone resources from Mashable:

---

- 5 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Wine Lovers
– 10 Essential iPhone Apps to Avoid Dating Disasters
– 10 iPhone Apps to Avoid Work Disasters
– 20 Fantastic Free iPhone Apps for Parents
– 9 Essential iPhone Apps for Cat Lovers
– 10 Best iPhone Apps for Dog Lovers

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, rjp85

Tags: Beer, Food, Guinness, iphone, iphone apps, List, Lists

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Epix, the “Hulu of Movies” joint venture between Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM studios, just added a new distribution partner. Mediacom Communications, the seventh largest cable TV provider in the U.S., will join Verizon’s FiOS and Cox Communications as outlets for the premium entertainment venture in April 2010.

Epix offers an interesting twist on the web premium content model, with access to EpixHD.com limited only to customers of its cable television partners. Only those who subscribe to FiOS, Cox, and now Mediacom Communications can access the online version of the Epix TV channel. Epix HD features an on demand library culled from the library of over 15,000 films from its three backing studios.

The strategy behind partnering with Mediacom is to reach the primarily small town and rural community audience that Mediacom serves. It represents yet another stepping stone in the overall march of premium video content to the web.

Do you spend any time on Epix or Epix HD? What do you think of the service?

Tags: cox, Epix, epix hd, Film, fios, Lionsgate, mediacom, MGM, ONLINE VIDEO, Paramount, premium content, tv, web video

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Want to help the people of Haiti who lost homes, friends and family members in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake yesterday? Well, there are several places online where you can easily and quickly donate without even leaving your desk.

Be careful, though. Some callous people have set up fake charities soliciting donations that won’t really help anyone. The U.S. Better Business Bureau runs a site where U.S. donors can verify that a nonprofit is legit before donating.

Donate on the Web

You have a lot of options on the web; here’s our list of trusted organizations. All of them will accept credit card donations through online forms.

The American Jewish World Service has set up the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund to respond to the crisis by supporting a network of organizations it works with.

AmeriCares has pledged $5 million to Haitian quake relief, and is soliciting donations to a general emergency disaster relief fund to help it accomplish that.

CARE is sending relief workers into the city of Port-au-Prince and needs funds to support its efforts. Suggested donations range from $50 to $1,000, but you can name your own amount if you prefer.

Catholic Relief Services has an office in Haiti, and luckily it’s still standing even though one of its neighbors collapsed. The organization is accepting donations of any amount.

Direct Relief International has committed up to $1 million in aid through two on-the-ground partners, and is sending containers of medical material aid.

Oxfam has 200 people on the ground to deal with the crisis, and began its efforts by trying to get clean water to victims of the quake. One of its staffers recorded a podcast describing the situation. You can donate on the American or UK site, depending on where you’re located.

Yele Haiti is sponsored by prominent Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean. You can donate through its website or via text message as described in the next segment.

UPDATE: Google Support Disaster Relief is a website Google has updated to respond to the crisis. Google has promised $1 million in support, but the site is also an easy place to donate money to either UNICEF or CARE. It also provides hospital addresses and links to sources for news on the situation.

Donate With a Text Message

Musician Wyclef Jean has used Twitter to rally web users to contribute to his grassroots Yele Haiti earthquake fund. He’s urged his followers to text “Yele” to the number 501501. If you send the text, the organization will receive $5. The amount will be added to your next cell phone bill. Consider retweeting Wyclef’s updates and get some of your Twitter followers to donate, too.

There’s another texting option spreading through Twitter. You can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 via the Red Cross. Thanks to ABC News for pointing these out.

UPDATE: Reader Suggestions

Our readers have also suggested Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and SOPUDEP for our readers in Canada, Ben Stiller’s stillerstrong.org, the United Nations World Food Program, an orphanage near the site called OASIS, the orphanage-supporting organization Hearts With Haiti, Partner’s in Health, Latter Day Saints Philanthropies, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, AMURT, Missionaries of the Poor, World Vision, Convoy of Hope, Compassion International, Episcopal Development & Relief, the Lambi Fund of Haiti, and Food for the Poor. We’re unable to investigate and verify all of these organizations, but feel free to look into them for yourself if you’re looking for other options.

Do you have any other ideas about how to help the people of Haiti? Let us and your fellow readers know in the comments.

[img credit: @CarelPedre and @MarvinAdy]

Tags: charity, donate, Earthquake, haiti, oxfam, relief, trending, wyclef jean

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The Nielsen Company released its U.S. search rankings for December 2009 earlier today. Of the big three — Google, Yahoo and Bing — Google saw an increase in search share, while both Yahoo and Bing faltered.

Comparing December’s data with some of the measurements from past months seems to indicate that Bing’s marketshare surge was just temporary.

Below we’ve included Nielsen’s data from December 2009 and November 2009. As you can see, Google held a 67.3 percent share in U.S. searches for December 2009. That’s up nearly two full percentage points when compared with the November statistics.

Looking at the charts, it’s clear that this growth came directly at the expense of Yahoo and Bing. Both search engines fell nearly a full point from November to December. Google’s high-profile rollout of real-time search results the first week of December might have had an impact.

Now that Yahoo and Microsoft are officially teaming up for search, both companies will need to start working together quickly if they want to recover and build marketshare. The longer the transition takes, the more Google stands to gain.

Tags: bing, Google, search market share, Yahoo

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In the wake of Google’s threat to pull its business completely out of China, the entire world is responding, including Chinese Internet companies, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Chinese government — in the form of censorship.

A quick recap: Yesterday, in a lengthy blog post, Google revealed that it was the victim of sophisticated attacks against its infrastructure, originating from China (possibly from the Chinese government itself).

The targets were the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. As a result of these attacks — along with Google’s discovery of already compromised Google accounts — the company has decided to not censor its search engine, even if it means being kicked out of China.

The Fallout Has Begun

As we wrote yesterday, the political, social and moral implications could be huge. And, in fact, the fallout has already begun. World leaders are beginning to chime in, none more prominently than Hillary Clinton, President Obama’s secretary of state.

Here’s what she had to say in a brief statement:

“We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation. The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy. I will be giving an address next week on the centrality of internet freedom in the 21st century, and we will have further comment on this matter as the facts become clear.”

As with most statements, it doesn’t reveal all that much. However, we now know for sure that the government has been aware of the situation and will be specifically addressing the issue next week, allowing for the government to gather more information and likely talk to the Chinese in private.

In China, the Google News Is Being Censored

How the news is being interpreted within China is a tricky subject, because it’s getting suppressed in the communist nation. According to a New York Times report, the news was heavily censored or quickly fell from the headlines.

One quote from the article really caught my attention. It’s from an 18-year-old Chinese law student:

“The government should give people the right to see what they want online,” said the woman, Bing, who withheld her full name for fear that it might cause her problems at school. “The government can’t always tell lies to the people.”

At the same time, China’s Internet industry has been shaken to its core, according to The Wall Street Journal. Concern has swept across the industry, as Google’s technological presence has been a boon to the nation’s rapidly growing Internet sector.

It’s probably safe to say that no Chinese Internet company can match Google’s technology or innovations, and losing access to that is an issue. It also has a lot of investments and partnerships that could be affected by a pullout.

This news will continue to leak to the Chinese people, despite the censors. How much information they got, or what explanation the government would give if Google.cn were to simply disappear, is still unknown.

The pressure has begun to build on China, and it’s not going to go away anytime soon.

Tags: censorship, china, Google, Google China, Hillary Clinton

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Last week we reported on a possible partnership between Netflix and the Nintendo Wii, and today it’s official: The rental streaming service will go live on Nintendo Wii consoles in the U.S. this spring.

That’s right, when the flowers start blooming and the birds start singing, Netflix will also start streaming free for Wii console owners who already have a Netflix plan starting at $8.99 per month.

This partnership will no doubt be a boon to Netflix (which has suffered a little heat as of late). Of course, consoles like the Xbox 360 and the PS3 already stream Netflix, but Wii is the fastest-selling home console in history. In December alone, Nintendo sold more than 3 million consoles in the U.S. So Netflix will be reaching a sizable audience with this media marriage.

Come spring, Wii owners only need to procure a Netflix instant-streaming disc — which they can snag here — which works basically like your average game. Right now you can only reserve a disc, but it will arrive in the mail free — much like a Netflix DVD — when the times comes.

In addition to watching streaming movies and TV shows on their consoles, users will also be able to browse the Wii Shop Channel and the Nintendo Channel for games.

Tags: entertainment, Film, netflix, trending, video games, Wii

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